"Excellent. Now that we are all here, perhaps you can explain what you have learnt Dr Svelto?" Woolsey said as Sheppard and Teyla took their seats next to Ronon and McKay, who were both looking hostile towards one and other.
A grey haired man stood and walked to the plasma screen on the wall and began to speak with a thick Eastern-European accent. "Well, the arachnid that was captured is quite unlike anything we have seen before. It is very aggressive and has tried attacking anything that moves in its container. But this has given us plenty of opportunity to gather the toxin." He let out a nervous chuckle and continued. "As we only have one of them we are reluctant to kill it just so we can autopsy it so our results have come from observations." He paused and pressed a button causing a large image of the creature to appear on the screen, causing a shiver to run down McKay's spine as he shifted in his seat.
"As you can see." Svelto continued, "this in many ways looks like a normal earth spider, to the untrained eye. However, its physical abilities seem far greater. For example it can jump a considerable distance." He tapped anther button and the screen displayed the spider almost flying across its glass prison. "We tried using several gases, which are known to cause sedation in all earth varieties, but to no avail on this creature. We finally managed to use a much more potent gas to knock it out. During this time we took a blood sample, but the exo-skeleton is more akin to a beetle. It really is an incredibly resistant creature and a fantastic specimen." Svelto said with admiration in his voice. "This, I believe, is an adult female. Obviously we do not know about its full life cycle yet, but it has shrunk by three percent since yesterday, possibly indicating it has recently laid eggs" Sheppard pulled a face at the thought of lots of small spiders hatching.
"How confident are you that the spider is secure?" Woolsey asked.
"It will offer no threat. It is fully secure." Svelto responded as Woolsey scribbled down more notes.
"Never say never." Sheppard muttered to Teyla, who quirked an eyebrow.
"And the toxin?" Woolsey asked. "Do we know any more?"
Dr Scott swapped places with Dr Svelto at the plasma screen and started his explanation. "As far as we can tell, the toxin is not deadly to a human victim. Instead it seems to invoke a strong hormonal reaction, whereby the hormone levels increase to dangerously high levels and the victim becomes very aggressive."
"Is that not a strange reaction for a toxin to have?" Sheppard asked, "I mean what is the evolutionary benefit of making your prey angry?"
"We believe that these spiders possibly evolved on a planet with no human life." Svelto explained. "The predator or prey that the toxin is designed to be used on is probably killed or sedated when given the toxin. But in a human victim it causes this hormonal reaction."
Sheppard nodded as Woolsey asked. "How long will this last for. Will Cole ever be completely free of the symptoms?"
"That is so far an unknown." Scott explained. "So far Lieutenant Cole is still displaying dangerously high levels of certain hormones. This does not seem to be stabilising, no matter what we give him. My concern is that as a side effect of this imbalance, as well as the aggressive behaviour, there is a huge strain put on his heart. I am unsure, how long his body will be able to hold out. But if we can not do something soon, I can not see him surviving the next forty-eight hours."
Sheppard was about to respond when the gate activated. Woolsey and Sheppard exchanged glances before standing and moving to the control room.
"It is Major Perkins' IDC." Banks announced as Woolsey and Sheppard reached her.
Sheppard nodded to Banks who tapped at her console, when she nodded back Sheppard said, "Major, do you have any news?"
"Colonel Sheppard Sir." Perkins began, "The locals say the spider is not a native of the planet, but they do recognise the symptoms we described and say the spider is from a planet they use for hunting. The eggs that they lay are considered a great delicacy here. Of course you need a fair few of them to get any taste out."
"Do they have a cure?" Sheppard asked, ignoring the culinary lesson.
"Nothing non voodoo Sir. They normally give the victims a drink, but it only has a twenty per cent success rate. We will send a sample through though."
"Thank you Major, anything else?"
"Yes Sir, the good news though is it is very rare for them to travel in pairs or groups, unless of course they are new-born in which case the mother will stay with them for six weeks before they split."
"And the bad news?" Sheppard questioned.
"They say it is very rare for the spider to attack humans, unless it is protecting its young, then they are extremely aggressive. The only time anyone from the village has ever been bitten was when they were trying to extract the eggs from a nest. They seem fairly certain here that for the spider to attack a human, it must have been threatened or it was trying to protect its young."
"We haven't found any other spiders around Major and this one is aggressive." Woolsey responded.
"Hopefully Cole just threatened it then, unless the eggs haven't hatched yet." Perkins replied, immediately causing both Sheppard and Woolsey to look worried.
"How many eggs do they things lay?" Sheppard asked, pulling a face.
"Anywhere between two and three thousand Sir." Perkins answered.
"I'm sorry did you say three thousand?" Woolsey questioned.
"Yes Sir." Perkins answered. "Do you think it has lain eggs then?"
"The biology team think it may have recently given birth." Sheppard answered, "But we have been through William's and Cole's belongings and have not found anything."
"I don't know if this helps Sir, but the locals have previously found the eggs in boxes they have brought back, they tend to have be lain in cloth."
"Well we have been through all of William's and Cole's belongings, without finding anything." Woolsey said.
"Except the back packs, they are still missing." Sheppard replied. Then as realisation dawned said, "oh crap." And quickly tapped his ear-piece.